Research
Water Quality in Distribution Systems
Drinking water quality can change substantially as it travels from the treatment plant to the tap. Our research in this area aims to better understand the bacteria present in drinking water and identify innovative ways to control their growth in drinking water infrastructure.
Current Support: NSF CAREER Award #2238953; USGS 104b Water Research Program
Read more about our work on this topic:
- Impact of hydraulic and physicochemical factors on spatiotemporal variations of particle-associated bacteria in a drinking water distribution system
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Tenets of a holistic approach to drinking water-associated pathogen research, management, and communication
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Legionella pneumophila occurrence in reduced-occupancy buildings in 11 cities during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Microbial Ecology and Water Chemistry Impact Regrowth of Opportunistic Pathogens in Full-Scale Reclaimed Water Distribution Systems
- Impact of blending for direct potable reuse on premise plumbing microbial ecology and regrowth of opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacteria
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) in Rural Settings
Rural communities often face substantial challenges in accessing adequate water and wastewater treatment. Our work aims to understand the barriers to safe water supply and sanitation in rural settings. We also work to provide training and technical assistance to small water and wastewater systems throughout West Virginia through the Appalachian Community Technical Assistance & Training Program.
Current Support: USDA Rural Utilities Service
Read more about our work on this topic:
Environmental Dissemination of Antimicrobial Resistance
Antimicrobial resistance among bacteria is a growing concern, causing over two million infections in the U.S. each year. Our research on this topic focuses on optimizing wastewater treatment to ensure that antibiotic resistant bacteria are removed by wastewater treatment so that they cannot impact downstream communities.
Current Support: Water Research Foundation Project 4813 - Critical Evaluation and Assessment of Health and Environmental Risks from Antibiotic Resistance in Reuse and Wastewater Applications
Read more about our work on this topic:
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A proposed framework for the identification of indicator genes for monitoring antibiotic resistance in wastewater: Insights from metagenomic sequencing
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Towards risk assessment for antibiotic resistant pathogens in recycled water: a systematic review and summary of research needs
- Metagenomic Characterization of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Full-Scale Reclaimed Water Distribution Systems and Corresponding Potable Systems
- Impact of blending for direct potable reuse on premise plumbing microbial ecology and regrowth of opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacteria
- Effects of sample preservation and DNA extraction on enumeration of antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater
Surface Water Quality: Microbial Source Tracking and Downstream Impacts of Pathogens and Fecal Pollution
Pathogens and fecal pollution can enter waterways as a result of a variety of human and agricultural activities. We use molecular and culture-based methods to identify sources of fecal pollution in waterways and track their impacts downstream.
Current Support: USDA NIFA Project #2023-67021-40554
Past Support: USGS 104b / West Virginia Water Research Institute: Addressing Challenges in Monitoring Fecal Coliforms and E. coli in Watersheds Impacted by Acid Mine Drainage
Read more about our work on this topic:
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Microbial source tracking to elucidate the impact of land-use and physiochemical water quality on fecal contamination in a mixed land-use watershed
- Metagenomic profiling of historic Colorado Front Range flood impact on distribution of riverine antibiotic resistance genes
- Stormwater loadings of antibiotic resistance genes in an urban stream
Next Generation Sequencing for Studying Water and Wastewater
The emergence of next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies is revolutionizing the use of molecular techniques (i.e. those targeting the DNA of microorganisms) for understanding complex microbial communities. NGS is poised to address key issues of importance to the water industry by bringing new understanding to various dimensions of water quality, including antibiotic resistance, pathogen occurrence, functional capacities of microbial communities, contaminant biodegradation, and virus occurrence, among many others. Our research in this area is focused on harnessing NGS technologies to better understand complicated issues related to microorganisms in water, and developing innovative ways to apply these techniques.
Past Support: Water Research Foundation Project #4961: The Use of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) Technologies and Metagenomics Approaches to Evaluate Water and Wastewater Quality Monitoring and Treatment Technologies
Read more about our work on this topic:
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Next generation sequencing approaches to evaluate water and wastewater quality
- Metagenomic Characterization of Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Full-Scale Reclaimed Water Distribution Systems and Corresponding Potable Systems
- Microbial Ecology and Water Chemistry Impact Regrowth of Opportunistic Pathogens in Full-Scale Reclaimed Water Distribution Systems
- Impact of blending for direct potable reuse on premise plumbing microbial ecology and regrowth of opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacteria
- DeepARG: a deep learning approach for predicting antibiotic resistance genes from metagenomic data
- ARGminer: A web platform for crowdsourcing-based curation of antibiotic resistance genes
Wastewater-based Epidemiology
Monitoring wastewater for signs of infectious disease holds great potential for understanding community health. Our team uses wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) to study targets related to COVID-19, antibiotic resistance, and more. Our research in this area is primarily focused on improving approaches for the application of WBE in rural communities. We work collaboratively with researchers from biology and public health for this multidisciplinary project.
Current Support: West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources
You can follow along with our testing of wastewater throughout West Virginia here: https://wvuvectors.shinyapps.io/WaTCH-WV/
Read more about our work on this topic: